[JURIST] The US Department of Defense said Wednesday that two charges have been referred [PDF text; press release] against Guantanamo Bay detainee Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi [DOD materials; GlobalSecurity profile]. The military commission charges referred are "providing material support to terrorism and conspiring with Usama bin Laden and other al Qaeda members to target, attack and murder civilians; attack civilian objects; commit murder and destroy property in violation of the law of war; commit terrorism; and provide material support to terrorism."

According to the Defense Department's statement Wednesday:

The charges allege that between 1996 and 2001, Al Qosi personally served as an armed guard and driver for Usama bin Laden. Until about 1998, Al Qosi is alleged to have provided logistical support by obtaining supplies and provisions for Al Qaeda, an international terrorist group dedicated to opposing non-Islamic governments with force and violence, at a compound near Jalalabad known as the "Star of Jihad." It is further alleged that from 1998 through 2001, al Qosi lived at an al Qaeda compound near Kandahar, Afghanistan, with other al Qaeda members, including Usama bin Laden, where he provided security, transportation, and supply services. Between 1998 and 2001 he allegedly traveled from the Kandahar compound to the front line near Kabul, where he fought in support of al Qaeda as part of a mortar crew.

The charge sheet sets out that in 2001, Al Qosi, armed with a Kalashnikov rifle, evacuated the Kandahar compound and traveled to Kabul, then to Jalalabad, and then into the Tora Bora Mountains to provide transportation, security and support to Usama bin Laden and other al Qaeda members.

Charges were first sworn [JURIST report] against al Qosi last month. If convicted on both charges, al Qosi faces a life sentence. Reuters has more.

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